Posted on 15 Apr 2020
The capacity utilization at U.S. steel mills dropped to the lowest level in more than a decade, as more mills announced halt in production due to COVID-19 pandemic impacts.
The utilization rate fell to 56.1% in the week ended April 11, 2020, the lowest level since September 2009. The utilization rate was 81.3% a year before. The U.S. steel industry had spent much of the last year at above 80% capacity utilization rate.
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According to latest weekly statistics published by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the domestic raw steel production totalled 1.256 million net tons in the most recent week. This is significantly lower by 33.6% when compared with the corresponding week a year before. The production had totalled 1.892 million net tons in the week ended April 11, 2019.
The total U.S. steel production to date witnessed 4.9% year-on-year decline from 27.665 million net tons to 26.323 million net tons.
The Great Lakes region steel production dipped the most, falling by 119,000 net tons over the week to 430,000 net tons. The Northeastern production declined by 90,000 net tons to 104,000 net tons. The production by the other regions is: Southern (556,000 net tons), Midwest (122,000 net tons) and Western (44,000 net tons).
Source:Scrap Monster
